A Senate Appropriations subcommittee rejected the State Department’s recommendation yesterday and adopted a one-year appropriation of $21.8 million as the United States payment for one year to UNESCO. The Department has recommended that the U.S. pay two years of its UNESCO assessments or more. The U.S. suspended payments and is in its third year of arrears because of the view in Congress that the United Nations body is politicizing its activities in education, culture and science.
In adopting a one-year payment, the Senate felt that UNESCO has not taken the proper course in taking two anti-Israel actions and one against Taiwan in its recent deliberations. UNESCO condemned Israel on its archaeological excavations in Jerusalem and policies on the West Bank. Earlier, UNESCO withdrew another condemnation of Israel and allowed it to join the European regional body.
Sen. Clifford Case (R.NJ). who with Rep. Jonathan Bingham (D.NY) led action in Congress against UNESCO, opposed the State Department’s recommendation to pay all its UNESCO dues by saying that UNESCO has yet to prove it is not being used for “blatant political purposes.” Case felt that the full payment would be interpreted as a weakening of U.S. resolve and UNESCO would not end its politicization of issues.
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